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Willow
by Julia Hoban
by Julia Hoban
I think I have officially found the worst book I have ever read. This book was even worse than the dreadful Prescription for Romance. TARDIS should be grateful that I love her dearly and would never harm an expensive possession of mine, because if this had been a physical book, I would've been hurling it at the wall.
Now that I've officially raised (lowered?) expectations, let's get on to the actual review, shall we?
Willow is struggling to cope after the death of her parents in a horrible car accident. To make things worse, she is the one who was driving the car--it was the worst rainstorm of the year, Willow only had a permit, and her parents were tipsy and asked her to drive. Now she is living with her older brother, contributing to the family finances in order to make ends meet... and secretly cutting to deal with the pain.
Through her job at the local university library, Willow meets Guy, a boy her age who shares her and her late parents' interest in obscure anthropological texts. Though Willow can barely stand the thought of emotional connections these days, she and Guy begin to talk, but when Guy learns her secret, he becomes convinced that she needs saving. He makes every effort possible to draw Willow out of her depression and stop her self-harming, but in the end, it is Willow who will have to take the initiative to fix things.
This book is a real wall-banger, with two of the most annoying characters I have ever encountered. Guy in particular is someone I would never, ever want to meet in real life based on the actions I will ennumerate below, and since this is at least partially meant to be a romance, I am more than a little certain the author would not want me to feel that way.
First off, we've got Willow herself. She is at least characterized realistically, but that realism made her really annoying to read about in third person limited perspective. Willow does not cut anybody slack. She believes that her tragedy outweighs the mediocre problems in everyone else's lives, that it invalidates everyone else's right to feel. When a girl breaks some lab equipment and cries over it, Willow condemns her mentally, basically saying to herself, what right does this girl have to cry over something so minor? I could really understand that perspective, but geez, it made me lose a lot of sympathy for Willow regardless.
Later on in the novel, Willow has a huge blowup with her brother, where she accuses him of not letting her take care of her young niece because he's afraid that she'll kill her like she did their parents. Her brother makes no effort to smooth things over at first, but his wife leaves Willow an extraordinarily kind and understanding note the next morning. Willow brushes it off with the thought that clearly if Cathy is being that nice, she just doesn't get it. Ugh. Willow was incredibly selfish and even if it was realistic, she was not a person I particularly cared about or wanted to spend time with.
Then there's Guy. I'm pretty sure Guy is the worst hero I have ever encountered in YA or any other literature, and I'm counting Edward Cullen, for whom I have absolutely no warm feelings, in there. How does Guy offend me? Let me count the ways.
* First, there's how he finds out that Willow cuts. They're sitting in a park and Guy invites her to get a cappuccino. Willow believes she can't be making a connection at this point, only seven months after her parents died, declines, and gets up. Guy proceeds to grab her wrist and then try to pull her back down and get her to stay with him. It's a pretense so that he can brush a scabbed-over cut, see the blood, and realize she's a cutter, but no. Just no. You do not grab a girl you've only just met, someone who clearly isn't interested in staying in your company, and beg her to stay with you. That was so creepy and awful.
* Second, the incident that made me realize Guy is dumber than a sack of rocks. Willow has bought some boxes of razors on sale. When they fall from her bag in public, Guy claims she bought them for him to help her save face. Later on, they get into a fight, and he proceeds to throw the box of razors back at her. Even if the razors are safety-wrapped, what genius thinks that's okay?
* Third, the wonderful homophobia and sexism Guy exhibits. He's just sensitive enough to love Shakespeare and the same obscure book that Willow loves, Tristes Tropiques, but just manly enough to call a coffee shop Willow brings him to a "girly place" and say that he wants to get out of there. When Willow says all the guys at her old school used to love it, he says something like, "What kind of guys went to your school, anyway?" Awesome. So the only guys that can like a coffee shop are not masculine enough to be considered men, and probably, by extension, gay, which is apparently a bad thing in your eyes? Seriously, Guy, I'm loving you.
* Fourth, and most egregious, the absolute worst message I have ever seen in a young adult novel: a romance you're not ready for will clearly solve every problem you have! (view spoiler)
After this, we do get resolution on the situation between Willow and her brother, something I actually cared about. (view spoiler)
And then the very end, where Guy is again proven to be the worst hero I've ever read about. (view spoiler)
As you can probably tell by now, I absolutely loathed this book, and feel it sends the worst possible message to teenagers. At the very least, it showed me that professional help is necessary in a situation such as this, because as noble as his intentions were, Guy handled the situation in the worst way, and the ultimate resolution reeked of unfortunate implications (sex solves your emotional problems!). Avoid at all costs.
Now that I've officially raised (lowered?) expectations, let's get on to the actual review, shall we?
Willow is struggling to cope after the death of her parents in a horrible car accident. To make things worse, she is the one who was driving the car--it was the worst rainstorm of the year, Willow only had a permit, and her parents were tipsy and asked her to drive. Now she is living with her older brother, contributing to the family finances in order to make ends meet... and secretly cutting to deal with the pain.
Through her job at the local university library, Willow meets Guy, a boy her age who shares her and her late parents' interest in obscure anthropological texts. Though Willow can barely stand the thought of emotional connections these days, she and Guy begin to talk, but when Guy learns her secret, he becomes convinced that she needs saving. He makes every effort possible to draw Willow out of her depression and stop her self-harming, but in the end, it is Willow who will have to take the initiative to fix things.
This book is a real wall-banger, with two of the most annoying characters I have ever encountered. Guy in particular is someone I would never, ever want to meet in real life based on the actions I will ennumerate below, and since this is at least partially meant to be a romance, I am more than a little certain the author would not want me to feel that way.
First off, we've got Willow herself. She is at least characterized realistically, but that realism made her really annoying to read about in third person limited perspective. Willow does not cut anybody slack. She believes that her tragedy outweighs the mediocre problems in everyone else's lives, that it invalidates everyone else's right to feel. When a girl breaks some lab equipment and cries over it, Willow condemns her mentally, basically saying to herself, what right does this girl have to cry over something so minor? I could really understand that perspective, but geez, it made me lose a lot of sympathy for Willow regardless.
Later on in the novel, Willow has a huge blowup with her brother, where she accuses him of not letting her take care of her young niece because he's afraid that she'll kill her like she did their parents. Her brother makes no effort to smooth things over at first, but his wife leaves Willow an extraordinarily kind and understanding note the next morning. Willow brushes it off with the thought that clearly if Cathy is being that nice, she just doesn't get it. Ugh. Willow was incredibly selfish and even if it was realistic, she was not a person I particularly cared about or wanted to spend time with.
Then there's Guy. I'm pretty sure Guy is the worst hero I have ever encountered in YA or any other literature, and I'm counting Edward Cullen, for whom I have absolutely no warm feelings, in there. How does Guy offend me? Let me count the ways.
* First, there's how he finds out that Willow cuts. They're sitting in a park and Guy invites her to get a cappuccino. Willow believes she can't be making a connection at this point, only seven months after her parents died, declines, and gets up. Guy proceeds to grab her wrist and then try to pull her back down and get her to stay with him. It's a pretense so that he can brush a scabbed-over cut, see the blood, and realize she's a cutter, but no. Just no. You do not grab a girl you've only just met, someone who clearly isn't interested in staying in your company, and beg her to stay with you. That was so creepy and awful.
* Second, the incident that made me realize Guy is dumber than a sack of rocks. Willow has bought some boxes of razors on sale. When they fall from her bag in public, Guy claims she bought them for him to help her save face. Later on, they get into a fight, and he proceeds to throw the box of razors back at her. Even if the razors are safety-wrapped, what genius thinks that's okay?
* Third, the wonderful homophobia and sexism Guy exhibits. He's just sensitive enough to love Shakespeare and the same obscure book that Willow loves, Tristes Tropiques, but just manly enough to call a coffee shop Willow brings him to a "girly place" and say that he wants to get out of there. When Willow says all the guys at her old school used to love it, he says something like, "What kind of guys went to your school, anyway?" Awesome. So the only guys that can like a coffee shop are not masculine enough to be considered men, and probably, by extension, gay, which is apparently a bad thing in your eyes? Seriously, Guy, I'm loving you.
* Fourth, and most egregious, the absolute worst message I have ever seen in a young adult novel: a romance you're not ready for will clearly solve every problem you have! (view spoiler)
After this, we do get resolution on the situation between Willow and her brother, something I actually cared about. (view spoiler)
And then the very end, where Guy is again proven to be the worst hero I've ever read about. (view spoiler)
As you can probably tell by now, I absolutely loathed this book, and feel it sends the worst possible message to teenagers. At the very least, it showed me that professional help is necessary in a situation such as this, because as noble as his intentions were, Guy handled the situation in the worst way, and the ultimate resolution reeked of unfortunate implications (sex solves your emotional problems!). Avoid at all costs.
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May 31, 2011 02:09pm
Great review, Tracy! Also, I love that you named your ereader TARDIS. XD
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Hee, thanks! My Whovian friends and I thought it was only fitting, since she's such a sexy thing. ;) I'm glad someone enjoyed the rant, given that this book annoyed me to no end!
Whovians unite! I'm always down for a good rant. You were far more controlled and logical that I would have been. ^o^
You're wrong on so many levels. Sure, if you name EVERY LITTLE thing wrong with a book, you are going to convince yourself and other people that it sucks. But you forgot to mention the good things about this book. Like the fact that it's an inspirational story about a teen overcoming cutting. Yeah, pretty sure you didn't mention that.. Come on, get a heart for Gods sake.
I don't think you can call someone's opinion wrong, just as I won't say you're wrong for liking the book. I will say, however, that I didn't think the story was inspirational simply because Willow didn't make the choice to overcome cutting: Guy did it for her, by giving her the ultimatum that it was him or the razor blades. Willow gave up cutting because of her dependency on Guy. She confronted some of her emotional issues, sure, by mending things with David and coming to terms with losing her parents, but she subsequently threw herself into a relationship with Guy instead of working to further understand and overcome her emotional issues. That wasn't inspirational to me; it was horrifying. If you got something else out of the book, you're welcome to that opinion, and I won't try to change it. I will simply list the reasons why I have this opinion in the hopes of getting you to at least see my side and lay the discussion to rest. Neither of us is wrong; differing interpretations are allowed. Thanks for commenting, regardless.
Even though I really enjoyed this book, I do understand where you're coming from. You're opinion was actually really enjoyable and you are right about some points!! Either way I still have my opinion, as do you. But you're review is well written. Awesome job. :)
Thank god I read this review before picking up the book! I completely agree with your point about it not being inspirational - if this girl only gave up cutting because of her boyfriend, then all it means is she has found something else to depend on. There is no healing involved, only a change in what the "addiction" is - if he ever left her, she would be right back to cutting (or maybe hard drugs or alcohol or something equally bad). GAhhh this is making me frustrated and I haven't even read the book!!
tracy, poeple cant MAKE choices for other people. they can influence them but there is always personal decision. willow GAVE UP cutting...because she WANTED to. yes with the help of guy thankfully because without him, she wouldnt have wanted to stop.
Shaylee wrote: "tracy, poeple cant MAKE choices for other people. they can influence them but there is always personal decision. willow GAVE UP cutting...because she WANTED to. yes with the help of guy thankfully ..."People can very much make choices for other people through manipulation and intimidation. It's called abuse. These are some of the signs of an abusive personality:
* Damaged property when angry (thrown objects, punched walls, kicked doors, etc.).
* Views women as objects and believes in rigid gender roles.
* Tried to isolate you from family or friends.
Guy does all three of these, as I cited in my review. He throws the box of razors at Willow. He believes that men should be manly and unwilling to be caught dead in a froufrou coffee shop. He forces Willow to become dependent on him by throwing out her razors, I cannot stress this enough, without her consent after declaring that he's her lover now and should be enough for her--that's isolation. He doesn't encourage her to talk to her brother or a professional, just stands firm in the belief that all Willow needs is him.
Look at other negative reviews on this site and you will see former self-harmers saying that professionals advise you to become self-sufficient, that you shouldn't stop cutting because of someone else, because if that person leaves you, you'd want to go back to cutting again. In my particular reading, Guy displays classic signs of abusive behavior and Willow's relationship with him is very much toxic and damaging to her recovery prospects. If you choose not to view it that way, then that's all right, but please understand that the world is not as black and white as "people can't make choices for other people."
